The present invention is generally directed toward compositions for and methods of digitally printing an ink image onto a woven textile material, especially those comprising synthetic resin fibers. In particular, digital printing systems are disclosed that utilize a base application comprising an acrylic latex material that is formulated to be imprinted upon with digital ink while still wet, that is, before being fully cured. Accordingly, the base application permits rapid printing of an ink image onto the textile material without an intermediate drying or baking cycle in which the base application is fully dried or cured prior to deposit of the ink image layer.
Woven textiles made from synthetic resin materials have been utilized for sometime in the manufacture of articles of clothing. However, advances in synthetic fiber technologies have resulted in the ability to manufacture clothing, and shirts in particular, having enhanced performance characteristics, such as in wicking moisture away from the wearer's body. These improved performance characteristics have increased synthetic resin textile popularity in many areas, especially athletic wear.
The synthetic resin textile materials often contain dyes that impart a desired color to the fabric. It is also quite common for the clothing articles formed from the dyed textiles to bear imprinted images, such as artwork, text, logos, etc., that customize the article based upon the user's preferences. Screen-printing of these various images is a popular printing method used to provide this customization of clothing articles, especially T-shirts. However, screen-printing of images has certain drawbacks. Preparation of the screens required for the printing process can be quite expensive depending upon the complexity of the image to be printed. Thus, in order to be economically feasible, large quantities of the particular clothing article must be prepared. Accordingly, screen-printing is generally not ideal for single or small production runs. Also, inks used in screen printing operations generally are more viscous and must be deposited onto the textile material in relatively thick layers that can negatively affect the feel of the clothing article as it is being worn.
In view of these drawbacks, digital printing has been explored as an alternative to screen-printing for creation of images on woven textile materials. However, present digital printing technologies for textile materials, especially synthetic resin textile materials, also exhibit certain shortcomings. The inks used in digital printing are generally less viscous than screen-printing inks and may tend to penetrate more deeply into the textile fibers thereby degrading image quality. In order to prevent the inks from absorbing too deeply into the fibers, curing of the resin systems making up the inks may be accelerated by exposing the textile material to elevated temperatures. Commonly, the textile material is passed through a dryer operating at a temperature of between 285-300° F. immediately after the image is imprinted. However, exposure to these elevated temperatures, which is commonly for 6-8 minutes, can deactivate the textile dye system causing the dye to weep into and degrade the printed image. Particularly in the context of synthetic resin textile materials, long-term adhesion of the cured ink image to the textile fibers can also be problematic. If the adherence of the ink to the textile fibers is weak, the clothing article will exhibit poor washability as the ink image may crack, fade, or release upon undergoing plural wash/dry cycles.
Image transfer systems, wherein the ink image is first imprinted upon a temporary carrier substrate and then subsequently transferred to the clothing article, have also been proposed. But, these systems are generally more labor and material-intensive, thereby adding expense to the overall cost of producing the clothing article. Accordingly, there is a real and unfulfilled need in the art for a system of printing an image onto a textile material that avoids the aforementioned problems with existing screen-printing and digital printing technologies.